Knights Catholic Wrestling hopes to help grow the sport

Jason Allman, Jamie Castleman and Matt Mondelli have started the Knights Catholic Wrestling youth wrestling club to help promote the sport in the area north of Nashville. Castleman, who won two state championships as a wrestler for Father Ryan High School, demonstrates a move for two of the club’s wrestlers. Photo by Andy Telli

One of the foundations for the success of the Father Ryan High School wrestling team has been the Nashville Catholic Wrestling youth wrestling club.

Nashville Catholic has produced numerous wrestlers who have gone on to Father Ryan to win high school state championships.

A group of parents on the other side of town, are hoping to approach that same level of success with a new youth wrestling club, Knights Catholic Wrestling.

“I wanted the boys out here to get the same experience they get in South Nashville at Father Ryan,” said Jason Allman, whose son Rivers is on the team and a second grader at St. Joseph School in Madison.

When he found out Jamie Castleman, whose son Braxton also is a student at St. Joseph, has a background in wrestling, he asked him to join the effort as a coach.

“I was on the first Nashville Catholic Wresting team in 1993-94 when it was formed by the late Tommy Bateman,” Castleman said.

He went on to wrestle for Father Ryan where he was a two-time state champion, was undefeated his junior and senior seasons, and was named Outstanding Wrestler for the state tournament as a senior.

Castleman asked Matt Mondelli, a friend and another former state champion wrestler for Father Ryan, to help him and Allman coach the team.

Several parents who were interested in enrolling their children in the Nashville Catholic program, found the traffic and commute from the north side of Nashville to Father Ryan, where Nashville Catholic practices, too difficult to get to all the practices, Castleman said.

Knights Catholic Wrestling practices at Pope John Paul II High School. “It’s a good central place to practice,” Castleman said.

He hopes Knights Catholic Wrestling will continue to grow so that it can serve as a feeder program for JPII’s wrestling team.

Knights Catholic Wrestling is open to all wrestlers in kindergarten through sixth grade. The club practices 5-6:30 p.m. Wednesdays and 2-3:30 p.m. Sundays.

Several of the wrestlers also are involved with other sports and attend the practice when they can, Castleman explained. At a typical practice, the club has 14-16 wrestlers, nearly all of whom are new to the sport.

But his young wrestlers are showing some promise. They competed in their first tournament at West Creek High School on Jan. 27, and six wrestlers placed, including Zac Savage, a kindergarten student at St. Joseph, and Austin Pitt, who both finished first in their weight classes. Others who placed were Rivers Allman, second; Kingston Lydon, third; Brandon Bush, fourth; and Braxton Castleman, fourth.

Wrestling has weight classes, so children of all sizes can compete. No experience is necessary to start with Knights Catholic Wrestling, which competes in Tennessee AAU tournaments. All interested wrestlers are welcome, no matter where they go to school, Allman said.

New participants can show up at practice or call Allman at 615-260-8589 for more information.